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There are currently 14 games left in the season, and once again, the D-backs will be playing meaningful baseball in the second half of September. Really, I tend to think that’s all you can ask for. We are almost in a post-season situation already: it took 12 games for Arizona to reach the World Series in 2023, and that was with two of the three series being sweeps. And as we all know, almost anything can happen over that number of contests. The bulk of the teams in the major leagues would happily swap places with the D-backs right now: per Fangraphs, 17 of them have lower playoff odds than Arizona.

But expectations are clearly that it’s going to come down to the last three games, against the Padres in San Diego, the weekend after next. Here’s how you voted.

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Nobody thinks it will be a meaningless series. Everyone thinks that we will go into the series with San Diego and Arizona still locked in a battle for a wild-card spot. The great majority think the Diamondbacks will need to win the set to make it through, with relatively small but equal numbers thinking one and three wins will be required. Of course, anything can happen between now and then, and as Snake_Bitten pointed out this morning, “They have some games to win before the season finale series.” There are tough contests remaining, most obviously the trio against the New York Yankees next weekend.

However, if you go over and lurk on Gaslamp Ball, you’ll see a fanbase who are perhaps more like us than we want to admit. Read the comments, and a lot of them might well seem familiar in tone. Padres fans are both excited about a potential post-season, and concerned about the team’s obvious deficiencies bringing it all crashing down. The recency bias both there and here is almost impressive. Confidence surges up and collapses back down, with each victory or defeat. It’s increasingly true as the number of games remaining is reduced, making each win or loss that much more significant.

Part of me, naturally, wishes that the Padres collapse, and the D-backs cruise into the playoffs, able to rest their best players over three meaningless games in San Diego. Because, on the one hand, it doesn’t matter in the slightest how you reach the post-season. 2023, and all the snarky “backing into the playoffs” comments, laid that myth to rest. But everything coming down to a win or go home series – perhaps even a win or go home game – is the stuff of legend. It’s the kind of thing which is great if your team wins. But defeat, and it’s a long, dark winter of quiet recriminations and pondering all of the “what ifs?”. It wouldn’t be something to forget in a hurry, either way.

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Here’s the Twins lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Can the Dodgers make it nine in a row, facing the Marlins?

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Marlins
• Ballpark: loanDepot Park, Miami
• Start time: 1:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Royals pulled off their first win against Boston in over a year last night. If they win tonight, it would be their first series victory over the AL East team since they took three of four in August 2022 and their first series victory in Boston since July of 2017. The first win of that series was the last of a nine-game winning streak ahead of the 26-35 stretch that finished their season and guaranteed they would miss the playoffs for the final time with the last core group that had won them a World Series.

Many of the players from the final game of the series have retired. Only Salvador Perez, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, Christian Vázquez, and Drew Pomeranz are still playing major league ball. Ramon Torres started at third for the Royals in that game. Do you remember him? Because I sure as heck don’t. It was Devers’ fifth game as a big leaguer and he hit his second career home run off of Jason Hammel. The Royals had a four-run eighth inning to pull off the comeback win. It was capped off by a two-run Alex Gordon triple to center.

Anyway, enough nostalgia.

Today’s game will see Randy Dobnak take the mound for KC. Dobnak had his roughest outing of the season two starts ago against Miami, and some among us wondered if Dobnak Time might finally be coming to an end. But he was strong in picking up the Royals’ only victory against Toronto last week. So perhaps it can keep going for a bit longer.

Ranger Suarez will go for Boston. He has faced KC once already this year and allowed a single run in 4.1 innings while striking out 3 and walking 3. It wasn’t his best outing, but he didn’t do enough to prevent Boston from winning, either. He’s a lefty, so this will be a tough game for KC’s offense.

Lineups

Still no Jac Caglianone, despite him taking batting practice and shagging fly balls ahead of last night’s game. I guess his first 30-home run season will have to be next season.

The San Francisco Giants lost their series opener against the San Diego Padres on Friday. Today, they’ll try to even the series up.

On the mound for San Francisco is left-hander César Perdomo, a 24-year old rookie who will making his third professional appearance. Perdomo has been excellent so far, posting a 0.90 ERA and a 3.40 FIP, with eight strikeouts and just two walks in 10 innings. In his last game, he threw six shutout innings against the Mets in his first career start.

For the Padres, it’s veteran right-hander Michael King, who makes his 30th start of the season. The 31-year old King is 10-9 on the year, with a 3.00 ERA, a 4.17 FIP, and 144 strikeouts to 66 walks in 168 innings. King has been on an absolute heater lately, with three straight starts with at least six innings thrown and no runs allowed.

Enjoy the baseball, everyone!

Game #149

Who: San Francisco Giants (62-86) vs. San Diego Padres (79-68)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 1:05 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Nats snapped a 7 game losing streak with a tight 4-3 win last night. Now they will look to build off that and claim a series win. They have actually been playing fairly well at home and will seek to continue that. The offense will have a tough task against an underrated young pitcher.

With a righty on the mound, the Nats will make a couple changes. Abimelec Ortiz will be playing first base in this contest. James Wood will actually move to DH. That means the outfield will be Daylen Lile, Jacob Young and Dylan Crews. Keibert Ruiz will be behind the plate. Andrew Alvarez is on the mound.

The Angels actually have an all righty lineup. Jose Siri, Oswald Peraza and Kyren Paris come in the lineup. Tyler Heineman also comes in behind the plate. This righty heavy lineup plans to counter Alvarez. Walbert Urena is a 22 year old flame thrower who is one of the most underrated pitchers in the league.

Game Info:

Stadium: Nationals Park

Time: 4:05 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

After last night, the Nats have a weight off their shoulders. Hopefully this can lead to some better play down the stretch. It will be tough against a pitcher like Urena though. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

It’s September and the Red Sox are heading to the playoffs. And yet a certain listlessness seems to have overtaken Fenway Park in recent days. With several players resting up with minor injuries while others work their way back into playing shape, it almost feels like a second spring training. The Sox aren’t charging into October so much as moseying in its general direction.

How much should this worry us? Maybe not all that much (see, e.g. tomorrow’s starting pitcher, Peyton “Momentum” Tolle). But it’s not a ton of fun.

They’ll get back to it this afternoon behind Ranger Suárez. With Ceddanne Rafaela still on the IL, Jarren Duran makes yet another start in centerfield, while Anthony Seigler gets his first start since being recalled to replace the injured Eli White.

First Pitch: 4:10 PM

TV: NESN

Reason for optimism: Jesús Luzardo gets positive MRI results after scratch originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ATLANTA — After the Phillies scratched Jesús Luzardo on Friday night from his scheduled Saturday start because of shoulder stiffness, their left-hander did not sound too concerned.

Luzardo underwent an MRI Friday night after the discomfort that had been bothering him worsened in the days following his complete game against the Braves.

“I don’t know exactly the medical terms, but it was a positive outcome,” Luzardo said before Saturday’s contest. “No structural damage, really. Nothing new.”

Instead, Luzardo said the issue is inflammation, which the Phillies believe is behind the stiffness and discomfort.

Don Mattingly came away encouraged, too.

“It was kind of what we thought,” Mattingly said. “We didn’t feel like there was anything truly going on.”

Luzardo had been scheduled to make his 30th start of the season Saturday, five days after throwing the first complete game of his career.

He held Atlanta scoreless on two hits with 12 strikeouts over nine innings Monday at Citizens Bank Park, needing 109 pitches in a 1-0 win.

The shoulder did not bother him during that start.

“During the game, I felt great,” Luzardo said. “Even at the end of the night, even the next day, I felt pretty good. And then it was just kind of the days after that that didn’t feel too good.”

Luzardo said he had been dealing with some soreness beforehand, but it became more noticeable as the week went on.

“It definitely got worse after this last start, just progressively throughout the five days,” he said.

Whether the nine-inning workload contributed is difficult to know.

“If you ask me, I think it’s a coincidence,” Luzardo said. “Especially because I felt good in the moment. I honestly don’t know. Maybe it didn’t help. But again, it’s September.”

Luzardo said he feels better than he did two days ago, although the shoulder has fluctuated from day to day. He has not received an injection and is taking anti-inflammatory medication.

For now, he plans to take a couple days off from throwing. With the Phillies also off Monday, there is no urgency to establish exactly when he’ll take the ball again.

“I think the next thing for us is just listen to his body,” Mattingly said. “It’s gonna tell us what to do.”

Mattingly said trying to determine now whether Luzardo will make his next turn or need additional time would be premature.

A return sometime next week remains possible.

Luzardo certainly wants it to be.

“If it was up to me, I would have pitched today,” he said. “[That] probably wouldn’t have been the smartest decision. So it’s always nice to have someone to kind of pull me back.”

That was essentially the conversation between Luzardo and the Phillies before they scratched him. He believed he could take the ball. The team preferred not to risk turning the issue into something that could linger into October.

Asked how differently he would approach it if the stakes were higher, Luzardo didn’t hesitate.

“If today was Game 7 of the World Series, I’m throwing no matter what,” he said. “But I think to get to that point, I’d probably better be smart now than it is to throw today and then see my body get worse throughout the next couple weeks.”

That’s where both sides seem to be.

There is optimism that this won’t become a long-term issue, but no reason to force Luzardo back onto the mound before his shoulder tells them he’s ready.

“I’m more frustrated that it’s happening at the time that it’s happening,” Luzardo said. “I know that it’s something that I’m not worried about, like, my future and my long term.”

For a Phillies team closing in on the postseason, that’s the important distinction.

The timing frustrates Luzardo.

The MRI results don’t scare him.

Juan Soto didn’t hustle out of the box for the second straight at-bat, and Ron Darling didn’t let it pass.

A night after not sprinting to first while hitting a game-ending double-play ball, the Mets’ $765 million man followed Francisco Lindor’s leadoff home run with a grounder to second base on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Anthony Volpe, the converted shortstop still getting used to the position, bobbled the ball, causing Soto to speed up down the line. The Mets designated hitter was still narrowly thrown out at first after Volpe recovered to make the play. 

Darling fell short of ripping Soto, but didn’t let him off the hook for not running hard right away. 

“If you’re not going to run, things like that are going to happen,” Darling said on SNY. “Bobbled. If you don’t run out of the box, then you end up being embarrassed. DHing today because last night, I don’t know what his physical ailments are; he can’t play left field in this ballpark right now.”

Soto appeared to not make a full effort to snare a single to left by Ryan McMahon in the eighth inning Friday night, allowing a run to score and the Yankees to push their lead to 6-3 in a game that ended 6-4.

“He had two balls drop in front of him last night. If you do the math, it might have cost the Mets the game,” play-by-play man Gary Cohen added. 

He went on to note Soto’s injuries to “both calves” this season.

They could be either hampering him or making him less reluctant to run. 

Soto was on the injured list for two and a half weeks in April with a right calf strain as the Mets went on a season-defining 12-game losing streak in his absence.

He then missed 31 more games over July and August with a Grade 2 left calf strain. Soto returned to the lineup on Aug. 29.

He seemed to put any questions about his calf to rest when he hustled out a double in the top of the fourth inning, tagged up to third and then scored on a Carson Benge single. 

 “He showed no issues with his calf,” Keith Henrndez said. “He ran like the devil on that double.” 

Soto then mashed a mammoth solo home run in the seventh to extend the Mets’ lead to 6-2.

1900
The White Sox beat the Cleveland Blues, 12-4, in Chicago to clinch the franchise’s first pennant. (The American League would not be recognized as an official major league until 1901, however.) Roy Patterson got the win in the game.

The season seemed to set the tone for the franchise, with exceptional pitching and defense — and just enough hitting to win games. Cleveland manager Jimmy McAleer said as much after the Sox clinched against his club: “It’s the strangest thing that ever happened. A club with no good batsman to win a flag! Why, such a thing was never heard of before. [Dick] Padden has done most of it. He has been the whole works, and has shown himself a born general. The pitchers did the rest, with special credit to that lad Patterson.”

Brett Ballantini devoted an episode of South Side Sox’s Flashback to this win, back in 2019.

1908
Ultimately, the White Sox did not prevail for the pennant, but don’t say they didn’t put up a fight. Arriving at Detroit’s Bennett Park for a five-game set against the first-place Tigers and behind by three games, the White Sox won the opener, then played four consecutive extra-inning games to finish out the series, splitting them. On this day, the White Sox got back to just two games out with a 2-1 victory in 10 innings. Frank Smith not only went the distance for his 12th win on the season, he singled in the game-winner in the top of the 10th.

The White Sox continued a three-way fight for the pennant (with Cleveland as well), and the season came down to the last day, hosting Detroit. Had the White Sox not been blown out in the finale, they would have finished tied with (but percentage points ahead of) Cleveland and a half-game in front of the Tigers for the pennant.

1922
After three straight singles by Cleveland to open a game at Comiskey Park, the White Sox executed their eighth triple play ever. It was a bonkers play, which started out as a routine double-play grounder from second baseman Eddie Collins to shortstop Ernie Johnson to first baseman Earl Sheely. Cleveland left fielder Charlie Jamieson scored from third on the play, but for some reason the runner who started on second base, shortstop Bill Wambsganss, went for home as well; Sheely fired home to catcher Yam Yaryan for the out (and yes, the White Sox once had a catcher named Yam Yaryam).

It was the 282nd triple play in MLB history, and interestingly, the 283rd was also executed by the White Sox, three weeks later, on October 1.

The White Sox still were routed in the game, 8-2, yielding 17 hits to a greedy Cleveland offense.

1956
The White Sox signed 16-year-old pitcher Jim Derrington to a $50,000, bonus-baby deal. Such terms meant that the teenager would have to remain on the active roster for two seasons.

Derrington made his debut 18 days later, on the final day of the season, at two month shy of 17 becoming the youngest pitcher in major league history to start a game. He pitched surprisingly well, giving up just three runs (two earned) through 5 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, manager Marty Marion tried to squeeze six innings out of the young arm, and Derrington was clubbed for two home runs before the sixth was out, leaving him with a final ledger of six runs/five earned, and six walks against just three Ks for a 29 game score.

He appeared in 20 games for the White Sox in 1957 and pitched better, but not well enough to avoid the minors at the soonest possible juncture (the 1958 season). Derrington was active through 1961, but never came close to returning to the major leagues.

Derrington remains the third-youngest player in the majors (pitcher or hitter) since World War II and is the youngest player ever to appear in a game for the White Sox.

1976
At nearly 53 years old, Minnie Miñoso became the oldest player in major league history to get a hit, singling in the second inning of a 2-1 White Sox win over California. Angels starter Sid Monge surrendered the hit. Miñoso would later strike out and fly out to left in the game, won by the White Sox on Brian Downing’s walk-off double in the 10th inning.

Both Monge and future Hall-of-Famer Rich Gossage went the distance in this meaningless September game between teams with a combined record of 125-160.

1989
Robin Ventura made his major league debut in an 11-1 romp over the Baltimore Orioles. Ventura walked in his first at-bat and came around to score the first White Sox run. In the fourth inning, facing his 1988 Olympic teammate Ben McDonald, Ventura slapped an RBI single for his first career hit.

2016
The White Sox tied an unusual franchise record, as they beat Cleveland, 11-4, at U.S. Cellular Field. In the game, the Sox scored at least one run in every inning. It was only the 20th time in major league history that a team had accomplished this. The first time the White Sox scored in every inning was May 11, 1949, beating the Red Sox at Comiskey Park. 

In the 2016 win, the Sox banged out 16 hits, Avisaíl García getting four of them. Six went for extra bases.

2019
All-Star righthander Lucas Giolito set a White Sox record by striking out eight straight Royals hitters from the third through the fifth inning during an afternoon game at Guaranteed Rate Field. 

Of the eight, seven were swinging strikeouts, with Meibrys Viloria caught looking. The run started with Whit Merrifield to open the third, and ended with Nicky Lopez grounding out to shortstop Tim Anderson to end the fifth. Giolito finished with 12 strikeouts overall.  

According to STATS, Giolito’s eight straight tied for the seventh-longest single-game MLB run at that time. But even with his brilliant afternoon, Giolito lost the game, 6-3, giving up a pair of home runs including a three-run shot that made the difference. 

Carlos Rodón (Sept. 30, 2016, against the Twins) and Joe Cowley (May 28, 1986, at the Rangers) previously shared the White Sox consecutive strikeout mark, at seven.

According to STATS, Giolito’seight straight tied for the seventh-longest single-game MLB run at that time. But even with his brilliant afternoon, Giolito lost the game, 6-3, giving up a pair of home runs — one of which was a three-run shot which made the difference.

2020
White Sox first baseman José Abreu had himself a game to remember: The slugger drove home seven runs in a 14-0 slaughter of the Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field. (The team record is eight in a game.) 

This was the second time Abreu had accomplished the mark, first driving in seven in a game in 2016. In the 2020 effort, he went 4-for-4 and scored five runs. Abreu became the first White Sox player in club history to get four-plus hits, two homers, seven RBIs and five runs in a game. It was also his 17th multi-homer game.

First Pitch: 3:10 pm CDT
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN / WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM / Audacy

One of the only redeeming factors of this year’s annual August/September slide is that the youth movement — which in each of the last few seasons has mainly been represented by prospects falling out of relevance or young “veterans” failing to take the next step — has actually looked somewhat promising, between the continued development of guys like Luke Keaschall and Brooks Lee, as well as the emergence of familiar names like Kaelen Culpepper and Walker Jenkins.

This afternoon, top prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez joins the fold. Rodriguez, who had jumped into a top-2o ranking from various outlets in 2025, saw his stock dip ahead of this season but went on to post a .914 OPS in 49 games at St. Paul as a 23-year-old. With those numbers came 11 homers, a .500 slugging percentage, and .414 on-base percentage, with 42 walks to 58 strikeouts as he demonstrated an eye tool that was going to get him to the big leagues sooner rather than later.

E-Rod, or Em-Rod (M-Rod?) or Emma; he’ll have plenty of nicknames to choose from as he finally makes the step to the active roster, having been on the 40-man since 2023 as a Rule 5 protection, and having seen his minor-league options evaporate in the subsequent years.

Rodriguez, unfortunately, is not being dumped into the middle of a pennant race. I guess he is, if you count Cleveland’s pennant race. The reality is, if the Twins keep losing to the Guardians this weekend, they will have helped to completely shake up the American League playoff picture. The Chicago White Sox, at 75-72, have been alone in first place since July 4th, and have watched the Guardians pull to within just half a game back, mere weeks after they had been as much as 5.5 behind.

What’s more, immediately following this weekend series, the Guards will host Chicago at Progressive Field in a three-game set that may define the Central with just two weeks of the season remaining. It might not mean Chicago is out of the picture — the third Wild Card, presently Cleveland’s, has a two-game buffer over the next-best Blue Jays — but nobody wants to back into the postseason.

Today, Connor Prielipp and Daniel Espino will face off in an attempt to clarify the playoff picture.

GO TWINS GO!